Today, Valve announced the start of their Steam Holiday Sale, which will run from December 19, 2011 until January 1, 2012. It will feature many individual games as well as franchise sales if there is more then one title available through Steam.

The games currently avilable for this sale are the Portal franchise, Just Cause 2, Metro 2033, Orcs Must Die, the Sam & Max franchise, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Rift, Fable 3, Bunch of Heroes, and the Max Payne franchise. The Pendulo Sudios Adventure Pack includes The Next BIG Thing, Runaway: A Road Adventure, Runaway: The Dream of The Turtle, and Runaway: A Twist of Fate.

The deals are not limited to individual games or their franchises, either. This Holiday Sale includes sales from developers under the Pack Deals and from publishers under the Publisher Catalogs respectively. The games that are up for this sale will change on a daily basis, so customers have only one day to grab a particular game if it’s on sale. The only items that will not change and be available until the sale are the Pack Deals and Publisher Catalogs.

Valve is also in the spirit with giving by showcasing their The Great Gift Pile contest. How it works are as follows:

“Each day, through January 1st, a set of six objectives will be revealed on The Great Gift Pile page. For each completed objective you will get either a gift or a lump of coal in your Steam Inventory.”

This participation will lead to the Epic Holiday Giveaway that will conclude on January 2nd. The entry details are as follows:

“Entries will be based on the number of coal remaining in your Steam Inventory on January 2nd at 10am PST. You must also have 10 items in your Steam wishlist at that time to qualify.”

The Grand Prize winner will win every single game on Steam, and only one winner is eligible. First prize will win the top ten items on their Steam wishlist, and fifty winners are eligible. Second prize will win the top five items on their Steam wishlist, and 100 winners are eligible. Third prize will win the Valve Complete Pack, and 1,000 winners are eligible.

Analysis: Valve has outdone themselves this year, particularly with the contest. They have done several contests with good giveaways, but nothing as lucrative as every single item in the Steam library. There’s literally something here for everyone, especially if you look in the Pack Deal and Publisher Catalogs. These compilations currently cost the same as one or a handful of games on a normal day.

One thing’s for sure: if you know a gamer and haven’t been able to find a gift, Steam has just made it much easier to help you this holiday season. I just hope your and my budget will last before it ends. The only advice I can give anyone is this: if you’re going to buy a game, look to see if there’s a pack that includes that one as well. This will cost maybe a little or a lot more, but it might have other titles you were considering but were on the fence about.